Meet Pilar …

… Who, for the past two years, has submerged herself in the most amazing healing journey. She wants to share this life changing experience to show there is more hope than we sometimes think. There is always a way.

Meet Barbara …

… Who as far back as she can remember, always had stomach issues after eating. Her parents didn’t pay too much attention to it because it was the 80ies; a time when families were eating pizza pops and frozen dinners cooked in microwaves.

Over time she just got used to feeling sick and it became her new normal. But in 2011 things went from being normal to scary …

Meet Ella …

… who, as a life-long foodie, thought she was eating good food. She avoided processed foods and packages, made elaborate meals from scratch, and loved to cook, smothering things in butter, marinating in oils, stirring up rich gravies and sauces, adding salt and rich spices to everything.

Meet Ayla …

… who from being 220 pounds at age 16, being diagnosed with a brain condition requiring a risky surgery, and watching her dad go through a stage-3 cancer diagnosis, knows the feeling of hitting rock bottom.

Meet Andrea …

… who spent years suffering with constant brain fog, low energy, depression, anxiety, digestive health issues, poor sleep, weight gain and insane sugar cravings! Her symptoms were so diverse she did not think they could all be connected. Constantly bouncing from diet to diet, trying new work-out plans and never getting results, life felt like a struggle. Andrea knew she was not living to her fullest potential.

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in the ubiquitous herbicide 'Roundup' that has infiltrated the majority of our food, water, air, and rainfall. It functions by blocking the production of proteins needed for growth in plants. In humans, it blocks amino acids including tryptophan, which is essential for hormone production. This causes a huge amount of problems for the human body and the environment.

Pollution from plastic, it affects us all and it affects us entirely: our outside world (environment) as well as our inside world (body).

Plastic; once our go-to friend for carrying items, going shopping, storing food, throwing garbage, etc should now be 'de-friended'. The use of plastic harms Mother Earth. And by harming her, we harm ourselves.

It all began when I was younger, with my slight obsession with the movie X-men. My interest in the power of cells was piqued when I saw that one of the mutants in the series (Wolverine) had the amazing ability to heal himself in a matter of seconds.

Having firsthand experience, I can tell you how much our gut and brain work together. Eleven months ago I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, an autoimmune disease that made my body hyper-react to gluten. There was so much inflammation in my gut it affected my brain resulting in terrible brain fog. I couldn’t make decisions or complete anything and felt horribly sick, tired and, depressed.

“But… What about calcium”? – one of those one-liners you come across every other day when you decide to fuel your body with plants only.

This question stems from the modern myth that dairy is the best and most reliable source of calcium. So let’s clear the air about calcium: Why does our body need calcium? How much do we actually need on a daily basis?

When I was a child, living in England, I woke up every morning to bottles of fresh milk on our doorstep delivered by the local milkman. TV adverts promoted the “goodness of milk”; the proteins, essential vitamins and calcium, needed by everybody to build strength and grow.

At elementary school, we received one free bottle of milk a day during our morning break. I hated it. The smell, the taste, the texture. The skinny pink plastic straw.

I was in Whistler the other day with the kids and we had just finished lunch and were about tohead over to the swimming pool. Just as I got everyone loaded in the truck, I get a textfrom my husband who was off to work for the week; “Could you please pick me up somegroceries. Attached a list and Thanks!!!”

Well, maybe not panic, but it is very important that we focus on consuming foods that are grown organically. “Organic” seems to be a popular buzzword these days and it can be confusing to know whether the investment in such foods is justifiable when compared to foods that are conventionally grown.

However, investing in organics is no doubt worth it for our health and the health of the planet. Plainly put, our government and health care system has completely failed to protect and educate the public on the dangers of modern food production.

Commentary by Helen Saul Case

I was born and raised in a household where we used vitamins instead of medicines. Consequently, I am very familiar with utilizing high-dose vitamin C to prevent and cure illness. Now that I have children of my own, vitamins help keep them healthy, too. I think you can do the same for your family. While I am not a doctor, and you should always work with yours, here are answers to some of the most common questions I have received about vitamin C. Topics addressed include its use in children, during pregnancy and lactation, for the treatment of illness, for the prevention of vaccination side effects, as well as help with vitamin C dosing, form, and frequency.

I’m a mom. Like most moms, my days are mainly spent trying to get to the end of them with everyone fed and accounted for. A year ago, right around her 1st birthday, my daughter decided she’d had enough of boob milk and she was ready for the world of “real food”. And it suddenly dawned on me – for the millionth time since becoming a mom – I knew nothing!

Type 2 diabetes is so tightly connected to diet and lifestyle factors, that by changing what you eat and the amount of physical activity you do, you can actually prevent and reverse the condition! (1) Incidences of Type II Diabetes are at an all-time high in North America. (7) Dr. David Mathews describes it as “The Black Plague of the 21st century.” These sky-high incidence levels, are a direct reflection of the current and rather poor state of the “Standard American Diet” (SAD)(4).

What if you found out that there is an easy way to improve your current health, prevent or treat chronic disease, lose weight and enable your gut flora – your micro biome – to flourish, thereby reducing inflammation and improving immune function? Fiber. I know. Sounds boring and old school. But nothing could be further from the truth. Fiber, one of the most crucial dietary elements, hides in the shadows of the wholly misguided macronutrient debate of protein versus carbohydrates versus fats. Fiber should be leading the conversation.

Do you feel like you're doing your best to eat well, manage your stress, exercise regularly and avoid environmental toxins? Do you feel that even with this effort you are still feeling sluggish, foggy headed and pushing through the everyday?

Or, maybe you have more obvious deficiencies like eczema, frequent colds or digestive issues.

Can you imagine living your life without an autoimmune disease? Close your eyes, and stay with this feeling for a minute. If you would be fully healed, what would you be doing? What would people say? What would you say? How would it feel? Stick with it, maybe even write it down so you can come back to this when you need some extra motivation.

Despite the rampant occurrence of this term -it is buzzing in the popular media and on the internet- it still is a hard one to digest.

Breaking it down will give you some clarity: our body has its own system, the immune system, which protects us from outside dangers. We don’t have to think about this, it is an automatic reaction. In some cases, the immune system gets confused and attacks its “self”; it attacks our own body. When that happens, one is diagnosed with an autoimmune disease.

‘Tis the season for giving gifts, taking a break and spending time with loved ones. But before all that takes place, there’s the pre-holidays rush to get through…

At work this means prepping for the annual holiday break – busy times. At home this means trying to dress up your Christmas tree “Hallmark” style to create the ultimate Christmas atmosphere – busy times. Also skimming through cookbooks, family recipe notebooks, and food blogs to make this year’s menu another jaw-dropping event catering to everybody’s needs – (very) busy times.

Do you ever find yourself feeling hazy? Do you find it harder to concentrate, forget people’s names more, or sleep lighter than you used to? It’s surprisingly very common. Cognitive functions in humans are declining at ever faster rates: Deaths due to Alzheimer’s are up 55% over the last 15 years and rates of Parkinson’s disease have gone up ‘significantly’. ‘Brain fog’ is a pretty new phenomenon affecting large numbers of us. Clearly, the problem is not going away anytime soon. These are new problems, Western problems – caused, like so many things, by the Western lifestyle and diet.

It’s 2017, and with the earth’s human population estimated to have surpassed 7.6 billion, we need to find a better way. A better way to eat, build homes, wash and groom our bodies, do businesses, and even brush our teeth - we need a better way to live. As a population that’s continually damaging our planet we can’t just up and leave our Earth and go to a new one, like cattle rotating pastures, so we need a solution.

First: if you're reading about this subject you probably are dealing with stress and don’t have much time. So I have been very efficiently in writing this article: beginning with a short explanation of what stress is, followed by refreshing tips.

On Christmas Eve 2011 France Faucheux knew something was terribly wrong. Since July of that year, France, now 42, had been dealing with abdominal pain so intense she could barely think. Living a normal life and managing her cleaning business and caring for her family was out of the question.

In this blog I’ll explain the meaning of a whole health team, who should be in it, how to build one and how to rely on it so you benefit from having this team backing you up.

Most people don’t know the concept of having a whole health team on hand. They only consult 1 person when they’re ill. Usually an MD, their family doctor. Now, there’s nothing wrong with consulting your MD, but it is even better to have a whole health team to support you when you’re battling an illness.

In this article, you will find out how I clean my bathroom using a natural bathroom cleaner, how to keep those nasty bathroom smells waaay below the bearable threshold (this one is a gem and housemate-approved ;)). You’ll never be accused of having eaten too many beans or onions again!

Standard medication often is toxic and therefore comes with a list of unwanted side effects. Don’t you think it is a little contradicting that in order to get instant relief, we take a pill that relieves us from one thing, but brings about another? Where’s the logic in that? And furthermore: why are we putting extra strain on our bodies, that are already in distress, by using unnatural, synthetic, chemical and toxic substances to have this temporary, fake feeling of being healed?

Last weeks' article elaborated more about the word meditation: its origin and how it is used today. I also shared my experiences with meditation, the shifts I felt in my life after I started practicing 13 years ago.

But let’s stop talking about me, about my experiences. As I mentioned before, many studies prove what I am sharing with you now. In this second part, I would like to show you why and how meditation is good for you. There are many scientific studies that confirm my own experiences which you can find in the resources section at the end of this article.

To complete this article, I will explain the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, one of the fundamental ways to practice meditation